Roberto Baldazzini

Roberto Baldazzini, born in Vignola (MO) in 1958, is a celebrated Italian comic book author, designer, and image historian. He emerged in the 1980s with a distinctive style on auteur comic magazines such as Orient Express and Comic Art. Since then, his graphic novels have been translated and published across Europe, the United States, and South America.

At the same time, he began working in advertising, design, and illustration (Vanity, Marie Claire). His crisp, highly legible line work adapts effortlessly from the smallest spaces of a logo to the vast surfaces of billboards, standing out powerfully even amid today’s visual clutter.

In 1997, he designed a major advertising campaign for TIM. Two years earlier, he began collaborating with the magazine Blue, creating various erotic comic characters and series such as Chiara Rosenberg (written by Celestino Pes) and Beba. Admired by Ettore Sottsass, Moebius, and Nanni Balestrini, Baldazzini is considered one of the world’s foremost erotic illustrators. His Casa Howhard series has been translated into five languages.

In France, with texts by Jean-Pierre Dionnet, he worked on the series Des Dieux et Des Hommes, published in Italy by Panini Comics.

In painting, he has exhibited solo shows across Italy, France, and the United States.

With L’inverno di Diego (The Box Edizioni, 2013), his most recent graphic novel, the author turned to narrative themes related to World War II.

As an essayist, he published Sexyrama – The Image of Women on Magazine Covers from 1960 to 1979 (Coniglio Editore, 2008) and Sophia Loren, Kidnapped by Cinema – The Photo Novels of Sofia Lazzaro (1950–1952) (Struwwelpeter, 2010).

For Sergio Bonelli Editore, Baldazzini recently illustrated the graphic novel Hollywoodland, written by Michele Masiero. He also signed a contract with the French publisher Glénat to create a comic biography of Jayne Mansfield.

Roberto Baldazzini is a comic author, designer, advertising artist, illustrator, painter — and now also a Tecnografica artist. We are proud to add such an important name to our Collaborations. For Tecnografica, Baldazzini contributes five splendid illustrations — “Aurora floreale,” “Le due faraone, La sfida,” “Dolce attesa,” “Frutto di bosco,” and “Imperatrice” — and three acrylic paintings — “Terre emerse, Alito di vento,” “Terre emerse, Tramonto,” and “Ai piedi della foresta” — which become perfect wallpaper designs, displaying a fascinating world of color, nature, and feminine personality.

Photo: Nicola Casamassima